Langley prototype capsules.

Of all the people that were involved in the beginnings of the space race, Langley and it's staff have been more overlooked than any other body of men. There was only one "boilerplate" capsule and that was used for the First beach abort test, on 22nd July 1959 and then flew again as LJ1A, and was part made of a conical steel section fabricated at the Norfolk naval shipyard, and hence the knickname.

In their own right these prototype capsules were as complicated as the production capsules that followed this series. The correct term for for these capsules is "prototype" and it does Langley a great disservice to call them "boilerplates".